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Not surprised to see Roberto Luongo sitting vs. Bruins

 01.06.12 at 3:07 pm ET
By DJ Bean

Roberto Luongo was chased twice in Boston in the Stanley Cup finals. (AP)

Surprise, surprise.

Canucks goaltender and Marblehead native Cory Schneider told reporters Friday that he, not Roberto Luongo, will be the team’s starting goalie when Vancouver faces the Bruins Saturday in a rematch of the teams in last season Stanley Cup finals.

Luongo is coming off a shutout Wednesday against the Wild, but he had a very difficult time playing in Boston in the postseason. In three starts in Boston in the finals, he allowed 15 goals and was chased from both Games 4 and 6. He allowed five goals in the other four games at Rogers Arena.

This season, Luongo is 17-8-3 with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. Schneider, who played his college hockey at Boston College, is 8-5-0 with a 2.16 GAA and a .931 save percentage.

It ultimately isn’t surprising for Luongo to sit Saturday vs. the B’s. He got off to a rocky start this season, but has turned things around. If anything could shake him right now, it’s the idea of playing in Boston again.

Things went downhill for Luongo following the Canucks’ 1-0 win in Game 5 of the finals. Following the win, Luongo criticized Tim Thomas‘ style of play, saying the game-winning goal he allowed to Maxim Lapierre would have been an easy save for him. Luongo was chased jsut 8:35 into the next game after allowing three early goals and went on to allow three goals in the Bruins’ 4-0 Cup-clinching Game 7.

Thomas told WEEI.com recently that Luongo’s remarks gave him confidence, as he realized that Luongo was distracted.

“As far as Luongo goes, actually, all that did was give me confidence that his head was in the wrong place, because I was focused on stopping the puck and he was thinking about my style,” Thomas said on Dec. 21 as he reflected on the now infamous comment.

“I realized that I had an advantage over him,” Thomas added. “… The challenge on my end was to keep that advantage.”

The Bruins starter is currently unknown, though Tuukka Rask has allowed just one goal over his last four starts and is coming off his third shutout this season. Just this writer’s opinion, but it might be wise for Julien to continue to ride the hot hand and stick with Rask for Saturday’s game. That way the B’s can go back to Thomas, who beat Winnipeg in November, when the Jets come to town Tuesday. Rask was in net for the Bruins’ Dec. 6 loss to the Jets.

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  • Ed

    Weak! @NHL just pumped his tires on Twitter Friday afternoon, and now we hear that Vigneault is holding him out, [so he doesn't get trounced and lose his recent improvement trend].

    I think I speak for all of #BruinsNation when I say ‘There goes half the fun’

  • Scott

    Schneider is just a better goalie, but they can’t make him their starter paying Luongo what they are paying him.  That’s why Schneider is getting the start over Luongo.  They need their best goalie against the Bruins.

  • Wayne

    Scott: Don’t you guy un-pumping Lou’s Tires now !!! 

  • peanutflower

    On what minimal record are you basing this statement?  Schneider is not a better goalie.  He may be someday, but he’s not right now, at least according to the stats.  Do you seriously think that the Canucks would play this game of not making Schneider the starting goalie just because of money, if in fact Schneider was the better goalie?  Which he’s not.  Let Schneider play a complete season before anyone jumps around and yells that he’s better.  Until then, Luongo is the goalie.  He should have started this game.  I’m disappointed.

  • canucks#1

    Take it from someone who has watched the Canucks all season.  Schneider is the better goalie.  Just because Luongo makes the big bucks doesn’t make him the better goalie.  He plays more because the coach doesn’t want to make the GM look bad.

  • Wmeritz

    Luongo is the number 1 goalie for the Canucks. Its mindboggling to think otherwise. Seemingly the coaching staff thinks that they have a better shot of winning with the back up goalie. They better be right or else!

    I can ony imagine how Luongo feels about this.

  • Luongo rules

    Two years ago, a lot of people in Montreal thought that Halak was a better goalie than Price. It’s easy to say that when the guy is in front of the net for just 20-30 games a year, even for an unexpected stretch during the playoff. Today, Halak has hard times to establish himself as a number 1 with the Blues, while Price is one of the best in the league. It’s hard to believe that Luongo receive that much criticisms with the stats he have since he’ve been with the Canucks.

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